Pennsylvania Gears Up for Public, Private Sector Unionization Fight

On the heels of a U.S. Chamber of Commerce report ranking Pennsylvania as “poor” for state employment policies and job growth, Republican and Democratic legislators are gearing up for a right-to-work fight.

Conflict over public unions has erupted across the country, beginning in Wisconsin with Gov. Scott Walker’s attempt to eliminate public sector unions’ collective bargaining rights. Right-to-know legislation in Pennsylvania, however, would launch an offensive against both private and public sector unions.

Pennsylvania’s private sector union membership rate is 9.4 percent, compared to the public sector union membership of 49.9 percent. At workplaces where union membership is not mandatory, employees are still required to pay partial dues to the union since they allegedly benefit from the collective bargaining the union negotiates with the employer.

State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe (R-Butler) is reintroducing his right-to-work legislation from last session, H.B. 50, 51, 52 and 53, which he said would right an “injustice.”

“It’s a very basic freedom issue,” said Metcalfe. “It’s hard to believe in the year 2011 in the land of the free and the home of the brave individuals can still be forced into supporting a union they do not support or believe in because the government tells them they have to.”

Richard Bloomingdale, president of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO, said organized labor is already preparing to fight the new right-to-work legislation, even with a Republican-controlled legislature.

“The right-to-work people introduce legislation every two years and it’s nothing new,” he said. “What is new is we have some new legislators and we need to educate them on the fact that it really has nothing to do with wages or…attracting business.”

Bloomingdale argued with right-to-work legislation, workers would be pitted against workers and Pennsylvania would transform into a “third-world looking” state.

“It’s all about dividing and conquering and splitting worker against worker, and usually favoring the non-union worker who does his brown-nosing rather than doing good work,” he said. “It’s really a rather insidious way to pit worker against worker and not about productivity, more about favors.”

Thomas Baldino, professor of political science at Wilkes University, said the governor is going to have to come up with a strategy if right-to-work legislation is passed in the state since Pennsylvanians are sympathetic to union rights.

“Pennsylvania has a long history of supporting labor unions and unionization efforts, going back to coal mining and steel workers,” said Baldino. “Even though across the state, just as across the nation, the total number of union members has declined, there’ still a sense in Pennsylvania that unions have value. So if the governor tries to pass or supports this kind of legislation, he’s going to get some pushback.”

Joseph DiSarro, professor of political science at Washington and Jefferson College, argued the governor’s history in administration matters suggests he would be able to prevent a confrontation over collective bargaining rights.

“What you have with Gov. Corbett is a professional administrator,” said DiSarro. “He’s going to approach this as he has. He already made a tough decision with adultBasic. There is no money to fund it, and that’s it. You’ll see that matter of fact, professional, nonpolitical approach to budgetary issues. At this point budget issues are not political issues anymore; they are economic issues.”

Bill Patton, spokesperson for House Democrats, said they are working with organized labor across the state to oppose the passage of a right-to-work law, which Gov. Corbett has said he would sign if it gets to his desk.

“We would mount a strong effort to oppose any kind of right-to-work bills,” said Patton. “I’m sure there would be widespread support for a budget that makes sense but we would not agree that the cause of our budget problems is overpaid public workers.”

While no right-to-work legislation has yet been introduced in the Senate, Erik Arneson, spokesperson for Senate Republicans, did not say if the issue was a top priority in light of the pending budget.

“While there are dozens of important issues pending in the legislature--and that is probably a conservative estimate--the clear number one issue is the state budget,” said Arneson.

Steve Miskin, spokesperson for House Republicans, agreed with Arneson that an on-time budget is the top priority but tied that to improving Pennsylvania’s economic status.

“In the end we are looking forward to working with the governor, working with the Senate, so we can put signs up that Pennsylvania is open for business,” he said. “It’s been shut basically for about eight years.”

He also identified legislation to improve the commonwealth’s tax structure, particularly addressing the corporate net income tax rate of 9.9 percent, the highest in the country. Additionally, state Rep. Scott Perry (R-York) has reintroduced his legislation from last session as H.B. 916 to reform the state’s unemployment compensation package.

Pennsylvania’s current unemployment insurance debt is $3.29 million.

Meanwhile, Senate Democrats are pushing their own job growth initiatives, with PA Works launching recently in Pittsburgh. The program will focus on small business, workforce training, critical state investments, clean and green energy, infrastructure investment and tax fairness. It relies on $2 billion in new private investments, saving the state’s General Fund more than $150 million, according to a statement from Senate Democratic leaders.